Spiritual heir of GEARS?
We flew to Hollywood, California to try Outriders, the new People Can Fly proposal, a studio located in Warsaw, Poland that was founded by Adrian Chmielarz, creative director of Gears of War: Judgment. From the hand of Square Enix we were given the opportunity to play a preview of this title that could well be considered a spiritual heir of the mechanics of the Gears series with additional ones that undoubtedly the lovers of the genre will appreciate.
The demo we played was the PC version where we had the opportunity to select the type of character we wanted in a simple menu that gave the option to choose sex, skin color, face marks, hair type among other things, We could also name our character, since this lively game by Sebastian Kamil Wojciechowski, leader of the studio and Rafal Pawloski head of level design, has its essence in online multiplayer.
History
It all starts when the Outriders arrive on the planet Enoch to explore a strange signal and assess the situation. In this inter they find a black organic matter that causes a kind of thunderstorm that pulverizes them. Our character trying to flee is trapped in the field, to finally discover that after this event he has inherited powers. As we move forward in the argument, we will understand the reason for this reason.
Mechanics
The game consists of a cooperative of 3 characters that you can play alone or with two other people online. At the beginning, a simple story is developed that serves as a tutorial to understand the controls.
We can run, roll, cover ourselves in the style of Gears of War, move from one place to another in full coverage, jump obstacles and best of all, use powers. The latter, without a doubt is the element of surprise that makes it extremely fun with the additional that we can alternate between 3 types of weapons.
In this demo we could select 3 classes of the 4 that will have the title:
- Devastator: Which bases its attacks on the element of the earth
- Pyromancer: Soldier with fire-centered attacks
- Trickster: Character with time-based powers
We venture with a Pyromancer and our colleagues from other media with the other two classes. In the first instance we can say that at least Trickster and Pyromancer are the ones with the most useful and spectacular powers, since some of the special ones when mixed, make lethal attacks. For example, with ours we petrified them with fire while the Trickster slowed time. Devastator on the other hand plays more a role of tank that in some moments is very practical. In another session that we had the opportunity to see, we realized that classes can be repeated, so it will not be mandatory to have one of each as in Apex, although at the combat experience level, it is better when they have all different trades, However, the evolution of the experience tree can determine this type of dynamics.
The missions will work hand in hand with a voting system where you will give a few seconds to decide and the players will have to be in the same quadrant to start. Just as there are main missions, in the same way there will be secondary ones, in fact, we had the opportunity to do one of the latter and we felt it was a bit short, so the game will lend itself to fast games.
A third-person shooter with role-playing elements
Something that caught our attention is that it includes reward boxes or loot boxes, so the essence of an RPG is present, but in a subtle way, since you will have to be aware of the outfit, weapons, helmets etc. It also includes a section for buying and selling objects in certain areas, but in the open voice of the developers, all this will be obtained only by playing.
The powers on the other hand will evolve as we gain experience points, for example, at the beginning, we only had a kind of hit to the floor that was activated with the LB button (Xbox One controls). Later we managed to unlock another one that petrified the enemies by pressing LB + RB, both after being used, have to recharge allowing some time to pass. As you go forward you will unlock up to 8 of these and you can customize its use through a menu where you will assign these attacks.
Another element present is the amount of damage you do to enemies, each impact shows you in numbers how much you are affecting it and this is where the balance of experiences in the multiplayer mode will be present, since the developers confirmed that when play with a friend with more experience at complex levels, you will undoubtedly do less damage, but the reward will be greater.
You can cover yourself, but we didn't see it as necessary
Although you can roll and cover yourself, at no time we had the need to do so, in fact, we fell a couple of times, but just like in Gears of War, one of your teammates can pick you up. This may be because the game is still in an early stage of development, but we hope they make this move more necessary.
Something that we liked is that it has well balanced enemies, since there are some with limited artificial intelligence, but others that become truly incisive, so the strategy and communication in the team will be key.
Can you mix class powers?
Sebastian Wojciechowski told us that there will be no possibility of mixing classes, hence it is important to select your job wisely, since if you want to change, you will have to do it from the beginning.
Can you play without being connected?
No, because there are many things that will come out in the world and this is the way they will manage it.
When we asked the development team if there will be any kind of content for downloadable season, they responded that they don't see Outriders as a service and pay game, it will just be as it comes on the disk from the beginning to the end.
Outriders is planned for the end of this 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and just this week, it was confirmed that it will reach PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
We are in the presentation of #outriders of Square Enix. Soon more details pic.twitter.com/ZO84GjzBo7
– FreeGameTips México® (@MeriStationMX) February 6, 2020
